Thursday, February 17, 2011

Miniature Wine Cork Fender...

I followed a tutorial by AndrĂ© van der Salm, on KHWW.net, for tying the miniature wine cork fender. Anyone not familiar with what fenders are and their function, they protect boats/ships from banging into docks and each other.  *Tutorial file may be found in current Mateloteurs Facebook group.

My knot tying friend, Manny, sent me the wine bottle cork, that was just like the one in the tutorial. I had a couple of corks from the local hardware store, but they were more tapered shaped. I'd figured on putting off tying a small key chain sized fender until I acquired a proper shaped wine bottle cork.

I used 0.9mm nylon braided string, which was slightly smaller than what is used in the tutorial. The half hitched pattern I tied is also open, where the spaces ended up the same size as the small Perma-lok needle I used. The attachment loop was done a little different too, in making a three strand braid about 5 inches long, then pulled through the cork, and the base was melted as shown in the instructions.

I wasn't sure how much of the smaller string I needed to use, so I worked with a 24 foot length, instead of the 18 ft mentioned in the instructions. I ended up only using about 16 ft for the finished hitching, and around 3 ft for attachment loop.

I also received a package in the mail yesterday, with a Victorinox Silver Alox Minichamp, and a Timberline Knives production model of the SwissKey Tool by SwissBianco, both shown on the keyring.

Although the cork fender does float, any more than a small key or two and whatever is attached is going to sink like a rock, so I wouldn't recommend testing bouancy in deep or moving water, lol...

I did try using one of the tapered corks, working with black 0.9mm string, and I prefer the wine bottle shaped corks even though they're a little larger and require a bit more time/work. About 14 feet of string used to cover the tapered cork and a couple more for the braided attachment loop.

There's a nice example of a globe knot over a wine cork, by Curt(Wooly Whiskers), on the PK forums.

If you want something capable of actually floating a loaded keyring/keychain, try the Waterbuoy Miniature Flotation Device.

22 comments:

Da Curly Wolf said...

*grin* wellll..if you REALLY want it to float find a piece that is as big as the palm of your hand..wrap it and then make the attachement loop on both sides. won't exactly fit neat in a pocket though.

eddie said...

nice little swissy, does it have a saw on it..???

eddie said...

ignore last comment, lol i saw on edc, nice little swissy tho..B)

rawdinsroost said...

What model is the prybar in this picture?

Stormdrane said...

@Da Curly Wolf, Yup, I've tried other floating key fob/lanyards with foam and ping pong balls, but even with those being a bit large, more than a couple of keys sunk them, lol...

@rawdinsroost, The Timberline production version of the SwissBianco SwissKey Tool will be commercially available soon from GATCO/Timberline and other distributors. The one I have came from the batch shown at the recent SHOT Show. More info on it from the linked SwissBianco video.

Anonymous said...

Stormdrane as usual I bow to your work and look forward to new entries with excitement. Excellent work as always. Thanks for the continued inspiration.

Anonymous said...

Stormdrane, question for you. I'm working on making a water bottle cover/coozie/holder, similar to yours. Did you have a problem with the cord getting super twisted and tangled? How did you get around that? It's really starting to frustrate me! Thanks and as always keep up the amazing work!

nemo said...

Excellent idea the cork fender! I love the nautical theme; I must try it. Thank you

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, Yes, the cord will develop twist as you work with it on a hitching project. You can give the cord a twist in the opposite direction each time you're pulling through a hitch, and this will help some. Every few hitches you'll still have to straighten out the cord before continuing.

It's just part of the tying process with hitching, and requires a bit of patience. With each hitch, your working length of cord gets shorter, so the pace will pick up as you go.

nemo said...

Question, is the coozie holder you refer to the one used to hold, for example, a Starbucks coffee cup? If so, I too am very much interested in making a couple of my own and could use a little more instruction to get started with the project . . . . I know it should be obvious where to begin and how to start but I just ain't there yet,
Thanks,
nemo

Stormdrane said...

@nemo, I believe you're thinking of the 'Java Jackets', which are turks head knots tied to fit around coffee cups. You can find more info on those on the KHWW.net website.

Anonymous said...

Thanks SD for the advice. I found that giving the cord a opposite twist and also coiling the extra around a small round bin has helped cut down the twist a good deal.

Keep up the awesome work!

KeenBeam said...

Thats a neat little fob. Probably enough float on it to keep small items from sinking when you are working on the water. Do you think it would float your minichamp?

Anonymous said...

You'd need a way to leave the base open, but you could perhaps tie one around a Waterbuoy keyring...?

nemo said...

Can these be purchased?

Stormdrane said...

@nemo, I rarely sell knot work online, to keep from getting burned out on my hobby. I recommend folks give it a try themselves. :)

There are quite a few knot tyers that do custom requests, and many can be found on ebay, etsy, and some on knot related forums, like KHWW.net and IGKT.net.

Melissa said...

That little keychain floater you created is a real cutie! Will it actually float through, with the keys? Love to see all the projects you create, very creative!

Stormdrane said...

@Melissa, It will only just float with a single small key and key ring, anything more and it sinks.

I've tried other knotted floating key rings with larger foam and ping pong balls, but they also lack the buoyancy to hold more than one key.

The floating foam key fobs sold in boating/fishing stores are about twice as large, and they don't hold much more before sinking too.

Unknown said...

Storefront love the site amazing stuff. looking to make some horse hair tassels for my other half whom had to recently put down her guy of 24 years.like this knot work on the fender but was wondering if you could suggest simmering similar to what you produced on the fender

Stormdrane said...

@Daniel, The horse hair tassles I've seen usually have a Turk's head knot tied over/around them, but I'd guess hitching would look good too, but I don't know of any specific tutorials for working with horse hair...

jimmyd said...

Hello

I was trying to find the cork fender tutorial. When I clicked on the link it says site been suspended. I'm not for sure if I was looking in the right spot. Can you help me locate the tutorial please. I have a bunch of corks I would like to make up. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Stormdrane said...

@jimmyd, The KHWW site is no more, and the owner/admin stated that it would not be put back up again, after the server/host went down last year and the second setup started showing as 'suspended' recently.

There is a KHWW group presence on Facebook, but not all of the files/tutorials that were on the website are there.

I do not currently know where Andre's cork fender tutorial might be hosted elsewhere, and haven't found it through googling.

The basics of the tutorial are making a braided length of cord for the loop, run through the center of the cork and secured by melting or making a knot on the bottom, then half/needle hitching is done, starting around the top of the cork, down the sides, and closing around the bottom.

There are tutorials/info around for hitching to learn that process...